Will do Soliver tomorrow.

Susan (npw goddess)

Nasa Star 3 competition now up and running. Check the thread under Kites, Lines and Accessories for details. Best of luck to all

How is DHL so slow with the born kites? I'm getting a kite shipped from Redsky from UK and it shipped Wednesday and is already in the states and scheduled to be delivered by this Wednesday. 1 Week. Makes me wonder if I had a Born-Kite shipped to the UK then the states, if that would shave a couple weeks off??

DHL completely lost my last package of NS3's. Should have arrived by end of March. Never seen 'em. Poo.

Did a bit of buggying with the NS3's today... Shotty wind but workable. I started with the 4m and got moving, but had to trade up for the 5.5m and had some good runs. By the time I left, I should've had the 7m out but didn't have the time to switch it out... I'm anxious to get some better sessions in the fall hopefully, but classes start soon.

Glad you got a ride in. I've only had one buggy session this summer. Fields are either too wet or I'm working. wind was 8ish yesterday and forecast to be 2mph today and tomorrow unfortunately.

The Nasa Star 3 kites will be available with me in a few weeks

Great news Mike!!!

COOL!!!

US vendor... whoop whoop!!!!

I'm hoping to pick up an Ultra Star when they debut. Should be any day now I hope.

Cheers for Big Mike. Im am interested in a big one and the shipping hussle kinda got me off so far. Not everybody got the kite so far. So im kinda hesitating toborder one from born kites.

Way to go.

Cheers for Big Mike. Im am interested in a big one and the shipping hussle kinda got me off so far. Not everybody got the kite so far. So im kinda hesitating toborder one from born kites.

Way to go.

That is a great development. No more waiting for mysterious postal delays. Somehow it seems easier to get stuff directly from China than from Germany.....

When do you expect to have them on your site Mike?

They are on my site. Pricing is a guestimate. They don't have US pricing yet since I am the first. I don't want this to be a fluxuation with the $ vs Euro thing but it might have to be. Once I get the final bill, I can finalize the pricing.
http://www.bigmikeskites.com/BornKites/nasastar3.html

Everything on the page is coming in. I know there are other sizes and styles, but I got to recoup some of this before I can expand the inventory. If there is something missing you want, email me about it and I will make sure its on the next order.

I think it's great we have a US distributor, but the price of the "depower bar" is a buzz kill. Not saying Mike's price is unfair but I am saying that would cause some to shy away from trying these great kites. I will work on an actual DIY version using an hq bar which is exactly what they are. I would hate it if that kept people from trying these out.

For anyone interested in these and if you have some spare parts laying around. The depower function is pretty much worthless used as variable depower IMO. All that is needed is to be able to use the third line as a safety. If you want to make your own, you need a 3 line trainer bar and you have to make sure to replace the center line so you have a 47" difference (center being longer) than the outside leaders. Then you have to position the stopper in a position to make sure it depowers the kite. If anyone has any questions, let me know. Love me or hate me, Everything I say if for the love of these kites

Sean - I don't have my NS3's yet (should get them this week!) but when I ordered mine Stefan sent me an email with links to various videos. For the NS2's one of the videos said to make the center line adjustment different for each kite. The link below is the video I'm referring to (the important stuff occurring between the 2:00 - 3:00 minute marks or thereabout). Not sure if this holds true in V-3.0, but I thought I'd share.

https://youtu.be/OG5XnQqcV8Y

Yes, I've seen that. I believe the purpose of the different measurements is (when the safety is fired) to depower the kite without turning it inside out. In my experience, I keep the adjuster at the same spot for all sizes but use 2 different knots on the center line for the adjustment instead of moving the adjuster itself. The only ill effects of turning the kite inside out is you can end up with bridle tangles that makes it harder to reset. I very rarely hit the safety anymore so I don't concern myself with fiddle farting around with the center line adjustments anymore than I have to.

Sean - makes absolute sense; thanks for the clarification. As I said, I've yet to fly one of these beauties. I just checked my DHL - USPS tracker and I may get my kites today! Winds may kick up to a whopping 12-14 knots later this afternoon, so I'll hopefully give them a whirl, setting the bar up with the 47" differential as you noted.

That's great Steve. A couple tips since your used to depower and when these are used hooked in you can't let the bar out to dump power. To speed check you an s turn to fishtail to scrub speed and power. Also, my bar came with 2 knots on the center line and were at the right distances so I didn't make any modifications. I had measured the distance so I could make other bars.

Not that we needed another reason to do business with Big Mike, but here is a photo of the box I got today from Born-Kites sent from Germany! Stuff inside is fine, but I thought the Bulgarian Kickboxing Team might have used my package as a kick-sparring bag while it was on route! :o

Dhl blows. At least it made it.

Mine looked like that package Ace Ventura kicked down the hall in Pet Detective...

Nothing against Born. Just that's a lot miles for a piece of cardboard. Plus US customs half assed my box back together after the rummage...

Can't wait to give Mike my cash!!!

I've not had as much trouble with DHL as you guys... My last kite made it here super fast. Its just a combination of lots of travel, lots of handling and of course our glorious imperial government's custom's dept. I've had plenty of kites delivered from in the country with boxes that look similar.... but having the stuff arrive faster from a US vendor will make a big difference IMHO...

However I notice that Mike is only carrying through the 7m size, so I'm guessing anything bigger will require a special order and more wait

Steve, one thing I figured out at my last session that really worked well for me getting moving was to get the kite in the air and up in Zenith with the chicken loop hooked in, and if it starts to pull really hard just pull the little yellow ball to depower the kite a little to get yourself situated on the bug... once you let go of the yellow ball the kite will power back up and you can get moving. The 5.5m is really a dream in the 13-14mph range. Their window is a little smaller than other kites, but they have great power just about everywhere in that window.

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

The 5.5m is really a dream in the 13-14mph range. Their window is a little smaller than other kites, but they have great power just about everywhere in that window.

Yes yes keep talking, I'm getting excited for the next buggy session just thinking about it. :D

BAH!!!!! You don't have to brag!!! I have to go like a month or more between sessions

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

BAH!!!!! You don't have to brag!!! I have to go like a month or more between sessions

Actually, I've only had one decent buggy session since spring started. I was focused on longboard for awhile and I've been wanting to buggy for over a month and time off and wind and dry field haven't lined up.

Quote:

Stuff inside is fine, but I thought the Bulgarian Kickboxing Team might have used my package as a kick-sparring bag while it was on route! :o

Might be worth sending that pic to Steffen if you haven't already. If enough people are having bad experiences with DHL, he may be able to find another alternative.

@ John Holgate - I'm happy to do so if you think it is important. As noted by 3shot above, this is in no way a reflection on Born or Steffan personally. The box had all sorts of tape around it and the kites themselves each came in their own stout backpack so it would have been pretty challenging to hurt them and they were 100% fine. The box, not so much!

Hard to know where the problem lies, being as the package would have originated with DHL in Germany, gone through US customs in Jersey City, and then finished its journey across country via USPS out to Utah.

With a US distributor now with Big Mike this issue for us stateside folks may have gone away. The packaging I've gotten from Mike has been top rate and in good shape upon arrival.